If you stop to think about it, the power of invisibility would be extremely useful, yet highly overrated. With enough tact, you could easily eavesdrop on any conversation, give the slip to anyone, take what you want or pull some great scares with little chance of being caught. What a dream for a sneak! Yet there are so many technical hangups that can ruin even the simplest plans. Rain and fog give you a faint outline, mud and snow leave tracks. Not only do you have to be completely naked to be invisible, but you better be squeaky clean as well. And if you do want to be seen, it requires quite a bit of clothing, but perhaps one of those spandex whole-body suits would be helpful this day and age.

When a man wrapped from head to toe walks out of the harsh snow into an inn, it causes a stir. He doesn’t remove any of the wrappings from his face and is very mysterious about his whereabouts. Before he is even given a key, people are making accusations: a thief on the run, escaped convict. It is none other than Dr. Griffin (Claude Rains), who has turned himself invisible in his experiments. At the inn, he desperately searches for a way to reverse the effect, but with all the commotion going on about him, it’s hard to concentrate. And being invisible is starting to drive him a little mad and fill him with greed. Before his collegue, Dr. Cranley (Henry Travers) and his girl, Flora (Gloria Stuart) can help him, The Invisible Man gives the people what they want, a good scare and runs amok invisible through the town.

The invisibility gags do not get old and will often leave viewers believing or wondering how such feats were filmed in the early 1930s. The most fantastic moment is when Rains is taking off the wraps from his head, revealing little by little his invisibility. As a kid, I always marveled at this moment, wondering how it was done. Apparently, director James Whale filmed Rains wearing a black velvet mask in front of a black velvet background to achieve the effect.

I would consider The Invisible Man one of the least scary or the Universal Monsters, but the film is one of the most entertaining and best written. It was closely based off of the H.G. Welles novella. While it is a bit violent (murder!) the scariest images are the fact that there is no image of our monster at all, which is more intriguing than frightful. This film could be a great introduction for children to old monster movies, as well as classic film. And with a superb cast, boasting Claude Rains in his first lead role, any film fan is in for a treat.

“The fools wouldn’t let me work in peace. I had to teach them a lesson.”

Across the United States, state fairs have become a welcomed institution. In 1933’s State Fair, based on the novel by Philip Strong, you may find some old and outdated traditions mixed in with the ones that have lasted. Side shows and trapeze artists have since been traded in for demolition derbies and local talent concerts. But there are still ribbons ready to be given for the best livestock, produce and cooks. And the midway is still full of games, thrills and romance.

The story centers around the Frake family from Iowa. Pa, Able (Will Rogers), is getting their hog, Blue Boy, ready and hoping for a blue ribbon. Ma, Melissa (Louise Dresser), is preparing her minced meat recipe, fretting over whether or not to add brandy to earn a ribbon herself. Their son, Walter (Norman Foster) has been practicing since the last fair to win big at the ring toss booth. And their daughter, Margy (Janet Gaynor), has a suitor who proposes marriage. She will give him an answer when her family comes back from the fair.

Adventures and romance unfold at the fairgrounds. Pa spends most of his time at the livestock yard fretting over Blue Boy. While Walter is busy cleaning out the ring toss booth, he meets a beautiful trapeze performer (Sally Eilers). And when she is not doing women’s work with Ma at camp, Margy meets a charming newspaper boy, Pat (Lew Ayres) on the roller coaster. It seems romance blooms easily at the fairgrounds, but will it last when the fair is over?

Without getting caught up in how everything is so outdated, State Fair is quite a fun film. In fact, some of the old-timey phrases are a riot; what exactly does canoodling mean anyway? The family works well together and giving each character individual problems keeps all of them interesting. The mix of teenage fair romance with ma and pa’s wholesome competition is a great balance. And I certainly did not expect to see the hogs oinking in conversation, much less a hog fight.

In all, I was glad to find State Fair, and very happy that TCM premiered it during their 31 Days of Oscar. For me, TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar is like Christmas time, only with better TV programing to tune into. Throughout this month of celebrating Academy recognized movies, there will be plenty of films that I have reviewed here, as well as some that I have been searching for (like this one), and some wonderful gems that I plan to see and write about. Time to enjoy!

A cavalcade is a procession, or parade of sorts. In the film, the transitions between chapters show that literally, with images of trail of people on horseback in medieval period clothes. They seem to just be the past looking on and ushering history. The real cavalcade is all about time marching on and the film focuses on a British family, from ringing in the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present in which this film first appeared, 1933.

The Marryot family, is a well-to-do couple Robert (Clive Brook) and Jane (Diana Wynyard) with two small boys in London. The film begins with a sweet moment watching the young family celebrate the new year 1900, where there seems to be nothing but potential. Marching alongside them is the Bridges family, with their baby girl Fanny. Soon the men are called off for the Boer War in Africa. At home, the Marryot boys are playing with their soldiers while their poor mother is nearly mad with worry. Not long after war is over, all of England is stricken with grief over the death of Queen Victoria. There is a beautiful image of Jane and her boys on their balcony watching the somber procession march past.

Soon the boys are grown and start taking the lead role of the stories. The elder son, Edward (John Warburton) falls in love, marries and takes a tragic honeymoon aboard the Titanic. Years later, the younger son, Joe (Frank Lawton), falls in love with Fanny (Ursula Jeans), all grown up and dancing for the troops. Though their parents disapprove, they plan to marry when he returns from WWI, but there is more tragedy.

What is left of the family is a generation getting old and remembering the potential they once had. It makes me thing that director Frank Lloyd was not at all happy with the events he saw in the beginning of the twentieth century and spelled out his disappointment in the film’s characters. Still, all they can do is march on and believe in the future.

The story can just feel like personalized history, but towards the end there was a segment that resonated and really caught my attention. Fanny sings a song called Twentieth Century Blues while a montage is shown depicting a whirlwind of nightclubs, drinking, gambling and women dancing. It seems the world has changed and become amoral in the past thirty years. All that is left for Robert and Jane to do is propose a toast to the future. One without wars. One with dignity and peace.

While all these events can feel like ancient history to us today, it is amazing to remember that it was only a few generations ago that witnessed all of this. Frank Lloyd and I are only ninety-nine years apart, perhaps we could have similar perspectives on our respected centuries. Most readers will remember how they celebrated the turn of the twenty-first century. We are the lucky generation who has embarked on a new millennium and all the events to far afterward. What cavalcade will be tell our children or grandchildren about? Let us remember and celebrate those we lost in the footsteps of history and continue to march onward with optimism, no matter what we face.

Three and a half hours after the Academy Awards ceremony had ended, I was catching Smilin’ Through on TCM. I’m not much of a night owl, by ten my eyes are usually drooping. Being up in the middle of the night to watch a predictable 1930’s melodrama did not make me a happy camper, but I’m committed to this damn blog. And I can’t justify paying for a DVR.

Anyway, Smilin’ Through is the story of Sir John Carteret (Leslie Howard), a man who has lived a solitary life since his beloved Mooney tragically died. He likes to talk to her spirit in the garden. A nice ghostly visual effect is used. After thirty years of watching this, his friend Owen (O.P. Heggie) has finally found a way to give John something more to live for. His five year old niece, Kathleen, has just become an orphan, losing both her parents at sea. Though John is against it at first, he grows to love his newly adopted daughter

Kathleen grows up (now played by Norma Shearer) and looks just like Moonyeen, and as girls grow they will find suitors. Things are going well with Willy (Ralph Forbes) until one stormy night, they seek shelter in an abandoned house and meet Kenneth Wayne (Fredric March). Being a charismatic young man, Kenneth and Kathleen have an instant chemistry and later go on a makeshift date. But when Kathleen comes home to tell John about Kenneth, the name brings heartbreak and he tells Kathleen the tragic story of Moonyeen’s death.

The flashback to John’s romance with Moonyeen is done very well. The transitions are visually compelling. Basically, the tragedy is told in the most melodramatic way that Moonyeen was being pursued by Kenneth’s father, Jeremy Wayne, and in his heartbroken rage, killed Moonyeen on her wedding day. Right there in the church with John holding her. It’s one of those wonderful, old-timey, drawn out death scenes with violins playing, topped off with a gang of weeping bridesmaids.

No matter how cheesy the story was told, Kathleen is moved to tears and understands John’s ill feelings toward the Wayne family. But we know how young love is, though she tries at first, she can’t stay away from Kenneth. That is, until he’s called off to war.

At three in the morning, I was making making absurd comments and laughing quietly to myself, trying not to wake my husband in the next room. Throughout the course of this blog, I’ve seen enough forbidden love and romantic tragedies to sink a second Titanic. Smilin’ Through (named after a song Moonyeen sings in the flashback for no real reason) is too melodramatic to be taken very seriously today, but the few visual effects and transitions are very nice work for the time period. Even I can appreciate that in the middle of the night.

After Jim Allen (Paul Muni) returns from serving in WWI doesn’t want to return to his old job at the factory. Instead he wants to become an engineer, “a man’s job where he can do things.” He starts from the bottom up, travels as a skilled laborer wherever the job takes him but soon work becomes scarce. One night, an acquaintance brings him to a burger joint and tries to rob the place. Wrongly accused of armed robbery, Jim is sentenced to ten years on the chain gang.

Now, before we get into the best parts of the film, what do you imagine a chain gang to be exactly? I think I only had cartoon images of men in stripes chained to a cannonball. All the little details about life on the chain gang is what makes this film so fascinating. Jim is first fitted with iron shackles around each ankle with thirteen links of chain between his legs. You notice that the men walk in short scuffed steps, even after they’ve been released. A second chain is attached to the one between their ankles and has a large iron loop at the end. Jim quickly learns to always carry this one, rather than let it drag. The loop is used to connect all the men together on one large chain during work, sleep and riding in the back of the truck. When the men are unstrung, the chain is ripped out, clanking and probably whipping the men’s hands as they hold their loop.

The men are treated like animals by the guards. It seems that every night, they find someone to pull out of bed and whip, whether he’s been out of line, lazy or just in need of some reminding. While working, the men can’t even wipe the sweat from their face without permission. And Jim is supposed to endure ten years of this?

During work one day, Jim makes a daring escape. This is one of those classic and exciting chase scenes. Jim is running through the woods, searching for a way to cover his scent with the hounds just one step behind him, the guards yelling, rifles in hand ready to kill and in the distance we hear a train wailing. Director Mervyn LeRoy knows his chase scenes.

Once Jim has escaped, he knows everyone is looking for him. The tension and suspense as a man on the run is what makes this such a great classic noir. The barbershop scene had me on pins and needles and left me relieved with laughter: “How was it close enough? Plenty.”

When the search has quieted down, Jim changes his name to Allen James (yeah, that’ll really fool them) and restarts his dream of becoming an engineer. But he’s constantly looking over his shoulder. How long can this dream last as a fugitive? Will he have more merit now as an accomplished man?

Without seeing Calvalcade, State Fair or Smilin’ Through I have to pick I’m a Fugitive from a Chain Gang for 1932-1933. It’s wonderfully gritty, realistic and sets up the classic noir genre to a high standard that will explode in the next decade. Paul Muni carries the film on his shoulders with ease and Mervyn LeRoy createst every scene to be tantalizing, smart and eyeopening. See it just to have a new understanding of a chain gang. If you enjoy prison movies, escape films or classic noir I cannot recommend this film enough.

Alright, I’ve been looking and flipping over stones but there are still three films I cannot find from this year. Sadly, the winner of Best Picture is among the three. If you have any information on the whereabouts of Cavalcade, Smilin’ Through and State Fair, I’d appreciate it.

Sadly, this is the only film starring Mae West that was ever nominated for Best Picture, so we’ve got to talk about her. Mae was a woman ahead of her time, of the twelve films she acted in, Mae wrote ten of them. Her revealing costumes and risky subjects caught the attention of movie goers and studio heads alike. That busty and hippy figure is said to be the inspiration for the shape of a coke bottle and you can guess why inflatable life vests were nicknamed Mae Wests.

Because of the sexual subjects of her films, the Motion Picture Production Code (sort of the first MPAA) was established to regulate the content that could be shown in motion pictures. Well, Mae didn’t take that laying down, she found ways around the Code to get what she wanted in her films. Even before the Code was formed, Mae was even sentenced to 10 days in jail because of her play entitled Sex on obscenity charges, but was let out after one on good behavior.

She Done Him Wrong made Cary Grant a star and though this was only Mae’s second film, she attracted such an audience from being the first girl on film to make racy comments. It was that sort of bold new obscene idea that instantly made her a star.

In the film, Mae West plays Lady Lou, a dancer and uh- entertainer for the guys. She entertains so many of them, she can hardly keep track. Gus (Noah Beery) owns the joint and showers Lou with expensive jewelry hoping one day she’ll be all his. But next door, Captain Cummings (Cary Grant) has opened a mission and drops in now and then. Gus is afraid Cummings will scare off his customers, but Lou sees him as the one man she actually wants. Of course, good men aren’t so easy to catch.

Meanwhile, Chick (Owen Moore) has been in jail over a year and all he has to hold onto is the promise that Lou will be faithful to him. When Spider (Dewey Robinson) takes Lou to go visit Chick, we see that nearly all the men in the clink know Lou. That tells you what kind of people her clients are. Anyway, Chick can’t wait a whole year and he probably senses that Lou is just playing him, so he breaks out of jail.

You can probably guess that Chick will head straight for the bar and Lou and that Cummings will somehow have a hand in saving the day, but there are still some fun surprises you might not be able to guess. This film is one of the great classics and only sixty-six minutes long, so don’t tell me you don’t have the time. Oh, and if you enjoy finding 1930’s racism in film, there are two huge blows in here: black servant and bumbling Irish cops! Let’s not forget one of the greatest lines in film history is in this film: